Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Ngoc Thien (Photo: VNA)Seoul (VNA) – A conference to promote Vietnamesetourism was held in Seoul in June 26 as an opening activity for the VietnamTourism-Culture Festival in the Republic of Korea (RoK).
Addressing the event, Minister of Culture, Sports andTourism Nguyen Ngoc Thien said that over the years, Vietnam and the RoK haveimplemented various exchange and cooperation activities in the fields ofculture, sport and tourism, including the Vietnamese Culture Days in the RoK.
Such exchange activities have contributed to deepening the understandingand friendship between the two countries, encouraging more Koreans to travel toVietnam, he said.
The minister affirmed that the Vietnamese Government alwayswelcomes and creates the best possible conditions for RoK tourists, investorsand travel firms.
Korean guests at the conference were introduced toVietnamese landscapes, resorts, hotels as well as the Vietnamese people andtraditional cultural practices.
According to VietnameseTourism Ambassador to the RoK Ly Xuong Can (Lee Chang-kun), the Vietnamesetourism sector has grown rapidly, making Vietnam one of the most attractivedestinations for Korean tourists.
At the same time, the numberof Vietnamese visitors to the RoK has been rising, he noted, forecasting thatthe tourism partnership between the two countries will be further expanded inthe future.
In 2018, Vietnam welcomednearly 3.5 million RoK tourists, a surge of 44.3 percent year on year.
In the first five months of2019, Vietnam welcomed nearly 1.8 million visitors from the RoK, up 22.4percent over the same period last year. The RoK has become the second biggesttourist source market of Vietnam.
Meanwhile, nearly500,000 Vietnamese tourists visited the RoK in 2018, a rise of about 41percent over 2017.
In recent years, Vietnamesetourism sector has seen the engagement of many RoK firms such as Lotte, Accorand Intercontinental, along with the stronger rise of domestic firms such asSungroup, Vinpearl, FLC and Vietjet Air.
In 2017 and 2018, Vietnam waslisted as the leading tourist destination in Asia by the World TravelAwards.-VNA
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